Queens Park Rangers secured a £15m loan from Barclays Bank in Hong Kong last month, charged against all the club's assets including Loftus Road, significantly borrowing for the first time during Tony Fernandes's regime as majority owner.

Fernandes and his partners finalised the loan on 18 March, in agreement with QPR's remaining shareholders – the family of the Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal. All parties insist they "remain wholly committed to the club's short, medium and long-term objectives".

However, with QPR approximately £90m in debt due to the significant loans paid in by Fernandes and his partners during the 2011-12 financial year, totalling £55m, and the Mittal family, who lent £27m, supporters may be concerned at the shift in approach.

The £15m was secured on the first working day after QPR's 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa in the Premier League, a result which left them seven points adrift of safety, but the club claims the loan had been agreed well in advance of that date.

Following QPR's spending spree during the January transfer window, when the west London club twice broke their transfer record with deals for Loïc Rémy, £8m, and Chris Samba, £15m, in an attempt to preserve their top-flight status, fears have grown that the club will face serious financial difficulty if they are relegated to the Championship at the end of the season.

Since Fernandes, a Malaysian airline entrepreneur, secured a 66% stake in August 2011 the club have spent a significant amount on transfer fees and player wages. Accounts for 2011-12 show that QPR's wage bill doubled to £56m and that the club made losses of £23m during that period, which does not include January's splurge.

Fernandes recently denied that QPR would be crippled by relegation and claimed that reported figures regarding Samba's wages, said to be in the region of £100,000 per week, were wide of the mark.

Last month he insisted QPR's spending needed to be "closely monitored and controlled" and the club says that the Barclays loan could be the first step in a future relationship between the two parties.

A spokesman said: "The club's shareholders have an ongoing relationship with Barclays and both parties were keen to extend this relationship to include QPR, particularly in light of the club's stated plans for a new stadium development.

"Given the current financial climate, it demonstrates the clear backing banks want to give our shareholders and their plans for the club. The loan is personally guaranteed in full by the club's shareholders, who remain wholly committed to the club's short, medium and long-term objectives."

A new ground holding 40,000, more than double the capacity of Loftus Road, has been in the offing but any move is likely to be a distant possibility with more pressing concerns regarding QPR's immediate future. However, the Guardian understands that more progress has been made in recent months after the chief executive, Philip Beard, said last month that relegation would not scupper any plans.

Fernandes, who sacked Mark Hughes in November last year, has given Redknapp significant cash to bolster his squad but QPR are currently second-bottom in the Premier League and 10 points behind Villa with five matches remaining this season.